A Slight Deviation
by Kurama Otsutsuki
Summary: Jinchūriki no Mi: a Mythical Zoan class that holds 9 of the most powerful Demon fruits known to man: it doesn't share the singular weakness all Demon fruit seem to share, and unlike the normal ones, the 'Demons' in the fruit fully bond with its consumer, imagine what one could do with that kind of power; good thing Hashirama Senju kept them locked in a safe only he has access to...
1. Chapter 1

Arc One - Chapter One: Resurface.

Sabaody Archipelago, the Final Island in Paradise right before the landmark known to most as The Red Line. It also is a really massive mangrove forest that's growing out from the middle of the ocean with each tree of the forest, serving as an Island for which people live on; it's also one place often filled with multiple activities, and one such activity was the recruitment of potential members for one of the most infamous Pirates to ever roam the Grand Line under the sublime leadership of their captain, Monkey D. Luffy, the Straw Hat Pirates.

The crowd that gathered was plentiful.

It was also a rowdy crowd, one that was filled with many hopefuls, who had heard and admired the legends and surrounding the infamous Captain; among the crowd, there were some of those that wanted to earn the trust of the Captain only to later turn him and his crew in for the bounty on their head… among the crowd, a man, whose face was hidden under the shady protection of his hood, stood.

Under the hooded orange robe – which was long-sleeved and had three thick horizontal stripes licking the end of his sleeves and his robes – he wore what looked like a black turtle neck sweat shirt, and on his lower torso, he wore a pair of black pants and boots.

He wore a stupefied expression on his face as he noted how gullible these idiots were to believe that the posers on stage were the real deal, the real _Straw Hat Pirates_.

He scoffed. "Tch."

He knew that the crew on the make shift stage weren't the real deal, because for a very long time now, he'd been keeping tabs on said crew, right from when Luffy began his journey up until this very day, it was his favourite pass time.

No, he wasn't a stalker.

It was something he started and gotten attached to when he was really bored one day. He just had stumbled on Monkey D. Luffy the same way he'd stumbled upon that brat that was called the King of Pirates, Gol D. Roger, and every other person he sensed with a certain potential…

Luffy was just one of the ones with the more interesting adventures to keep tabs on. He liked the kid's adventures more than the others because to him, it was _far_ better than watching any of the many boring shows they had on television. So without a doubt, he'd of course have a perfect idea of how Luffy would look… and that man _wasn't_ Luffy.

He twitched, as he continued listening to the bold claims the fake Luffy kept spouting. He had to force himself to stop from killing the fat idiot and making a scene… well, he didn't want to make a scene just yet though; his eyes however picked up three figures walking up to the stairs leading to the stage, he noted that two of them were part of the fake crew, but the third one was not.

He smirked.

Naruto D. Senju, had finally found the man he was looking for. He was also impressed at what he was able to pick up from said man using a particular skill of his. _'Looks like you've grown a lot over these two years haven't you… Luffy?'_ Naruto thought.

He pushed through the roaring crowd, as he walked forward, ignoring the responses against his rudeness, before he stopped – once he was a few feet in front of the 'stage' and looked up at his *POI (ignoring that his hood had slightly fallen off his head) and asked, "Hey kid, are you going to continue letting the fat idiot and the others pass of as you and your crew?"

"..."

His question focused everyone's attention on him. He didn't need to turn around to know that he was being looked at with varying looks of confusion and slight rage at what he presumed to be his 'disrespect' of the one that claimed to be Monkey D. Luffy.

Luffy, the real one, blinked once and twice before his head turned to look left first and then right before he looked back at the man that spoke and pointed to himself. "Are you talking to me?" He asked.

"Who else would I be talking to?" Naruto questioned with a raised eyebrow. "I sure as hell ain't talking to fat idiot next to you, after all he looks _nothing_ like you." He shrugged. "I have no idea why these idiots are buying into his gripe."

"Huh?" Luffy blinked twice, before he turned to his left and tilted his head up to see the fat man in question. He removed his hand from one of the handles on his sack and stupidly asked, "They think he's me?"

"Yup!"

 _With the crowd_

"Oi, did you hear that!?" One of the male voices from the gathered crowd whispered. "That guy said that Straw Hat Luffy's a fake!"

"…And he said that the kid standing next to him, _that's_ Straw Hat!"

"Come to think of it, it _has_ only been _two_ years." The man standing next to him mused, with a look of nothing but that of thought on his face. "Straw Hat looks like a kid, two years shouldn't have changed him into… _that_."

Mutterings of agreement were heard all around and nodding of heads could be seen around him.

"…Yeah, and Cat Burglar Nami looks nothing like her wanted poster." One man whispered to his companion, bringing out said sheet of paper in question. "See?"

"Yeah, I see the difference…" His companion whispered quietly, eying the picture and the person representing said image. One of the few reasons he wanted to join up with the crew was because of the two hot women they had; how had he not seen this before? That ugly bitch looked nothing like Nami.

She even got the clothes wrong!

Caribou blinked. His very flexible neck was bent back as his head twisted in all directions, before he finally set his sights on the stage. He'd heard what his fellow pirates had said.

"Boss, are you hearing this? They're saying that we've been duped by that guy." His subordinate reported.

Caribou ignored the whimpering of the marine next to him and sat on his body with a very wide smirk on his face. "Yeah, I heard them." He said in a long drawl, closing his eyes. "Kami-sama is really annoyed that this man lied to him..."

He clapped his hands in prayer. "…Oh Kami-sama, I promise that your faithful servant will punish this miscreant in your name!" He prayed. "Please forgive me for my foolishness!"

His subordinate prayed beside his master. "Forgive me, Kami-sama! Forgive me!"

 _With the two Luffy's_

"Hmm..." Luffy hummed, as two eyes squinted, and his neck stretched a bit as, he got into the personal space of the fat man to get a closer look at the fake Luffy wearing a poorly designed duplicate of Shank's hat.

Meanwhile, a massive drop of sweat was on the back of Naruto's spiky blonde hair, as he saw the display in front of him. "Oi-oi, you're not serious are you?" He deadpanned.

Luffy's neck was still stretching as he got an even closer look than before. His head snapped back into place forcing his hood to fall off slightly, revealing some of the Straw Hat on his head.

"Sorry, about that." He laughed rather sheepishly. "I can see why people will think he's me! The resemblance is really uncanny!" He said, before he then turned to the fake Zoro and Sanji. "Then that means they're fakes too!"

Naruto nodded at this, and Luffy pouted.

"I was all excited for nothing…" He whined, before shaking his head and smiling. "…well, that means I don't have anything important to do here, later!"

"O-oi brat, where do you think you're going!?" Fake Luffy angrily sputtered, with his face filled with rage. "I didn't give you permission to leave!"

Luffy stopped once he felt a hand roughly grab on to his shoulder, before he tilted his head back and looked at the man that looked like him. "Oi, what do you want?" He asked. "I'm busy. Make it quick."

Fake Luffy growled. He shoved his pistol on the back of Luffy's head and was about to switch the safety off, however, the sudden rush of footsteps and a bold statement forced his body to freeze into one state, shock.

"This is the end for you, pirates!"

Fake Luffy's head slowly turned to the source of the sound and gulped. _'Shit!'_ He thought. _'Those meddlesome marines are here!'_ He let the kid he had in his hold go as his right hand started to wipe off the sweat that started to drop on his forehead. He didn't really feel like dealing with this right now!

He and the gathered crowd watched as a Marine Lieutenant stepped forward. "Straw Hat Luffy and his underlings, we demand you surrender quietly! All exits out of Grove 46 have been sealed off!"

"There's nowhere left for you to run!" His fellow marine shouted, and beside both marines, on both sides, all of the marines gathered switched their safety off, and all prepared to fire.

Luffy, the real one, blinked once and tilted his head to look at the surrounding army. "How'd the Navy know that I was here?" He questioned.

"This _really_ is bad!" Fake Sanji said, nervously gulping, pulling on his collar, before he turned to the Fake Luffy and complained. "Captain, we're surrounded by marines! What are we going to do now?" He asked.

"Idiot." Fake Luffy said, getting his confidence back. "Don't let this freak you out dumbass! Why do you think we gathered so many companions?!" He hissed quietly to his subordinate. "Some of them are even worth more than 100 billion berries!"

Fake Zoro gulped. "But they're so many of them!" He argued.

"Just watch you idiot!" Fake Luffy snapped, before smirking and turning to look at the crowd of pirates he'd gathered. "Oi, Caribou, use the marine you captured as a shield and force the others to clear a path!"

Within the crowd, Caribou bent his neck to look at 'Luffy', who ordered him, and then he placed one of his hands by his ear. "Huh?! What was that _boss_!?" He shouted, smirking.

Fake Luffy snapped, from his position on the stage he stood on. "I told you to use that marine as a shield, you dumbass!"

Caribou sighed. "I get it, use this guy as a shield huh?" He muttered, as he grabbed the handle of the spear lodged on the captured marine – whose body he was using as a seat – shoulder, before he twisted the spear as he got up and pulled the marine up with him. "No!" He finally decided.

"What are you doing Caribou?" Fake Luffy angrily yelled, while he shook his fist and was angrily stomping his right foot. "Use him as a shield so that we can get out of here!" He added.

Caribou somehow smirked even wider. "Sorry boss, no can't do, because this marine here…" He trailed off as he twisted the spear in his hand. "…he lied to me, when he said that he didn't call for any reinforcements!"

With that statement Caribou shot the marine in the head with the pistol on his waist. Everyone had a different reactions to this very decisive act: the marines were enraged that they had lost another one from their ranks to the pirates, and the pirates were getting ready for a fight, they were spurred on by that one move (forgetting in their stance that the Luffy they came to see was a fake).

Fear, however, once more overtook Fake Luffy, when he realised that his free ticket out of this situation was dead, and beside him, the fake Straw Hat pirates were just as scared.

"That crazy guy ignored my orders-" He sputtered. "-the _Captains_ orders!"

Fake Sogeking cried while he asked, "What are we going to do now Captain?"

Fake Luffy didn't answer. He was busy trying to think of a way to come out of this bind alive and unhurt, the state of his crew of subordinates didn't matter.

"Shut up, I'm trying to think!" He finally said.

However, before he said anything else, both sides – marines and pirates – charged at each other with a determined look on their faces. For the marines, their determination was formed from the subject on not going to let the pirates escape their hold, for the pirates, they weren't about to let themselves get caught and sent to the Hell on Earth, Impel Down, and as both sides fought, two people weren't as excited as the others were.

Monkey D. Luffy, he just ignored the carnage and walked away from the scene. He was going to his agreed meeting point but he felt another presence just as Naruto appeared next to him and walked beside him in silence, despite the mini-war raging on.

Luffy turned his head to Naruto. "Huh? You're following me… why?"

Naruto shrugged nonchalantly. "No particular reason, I just want to join you and your crew in your adventures." He simply answered. "So, can I join your crew?"

 _BOOM_

 _BOOM_

" _It's the pacifistas!"_

The panicked screams, and explosions accompanied by the ground shaking stomping, were all but ignored by the two males, as they kept walking with Luffy himself taking the lead. However just as he was about to answer, Luffy suddenly stopped in his tracks, as did Naruto…

 _(Earlier)_

Following the report of a Marine Scout stating that a gathering of recruits was taking place at the Sabaody Groove, 46, within a Marine Base nearby, troops began mobilising for action, preparing themselves to face the threat of the Straw Hat Pirates.

To some of the marines that were gathering, this was a chance to redeem themselves of the well-known disaster that took place two years ago, and to them, this was also a chance to show their worth as marines to the new Marine Fleet Admiral – who was appointed following the death of Sakazuki, one of their most powerful force – Fleet Admiral Commander, _Yagura_.

Like Sakazuki, and despite his small size and physiology, Commander Yagura was a _big_ force to be reckoned with. His position in the Marine Corps was only a small testament to his enormous power and potential… he was _not_ to be underestimated by any means, and despite being very much larger than their commander, Sentomaru knew this very well as he was mobilizing his troops. He knew something else however…

"Sentomaru-san!?"

"I'll be moving on ahead!" Sentomaru commanded, two hulking figures were standing behind him. "I'm taking PX-5 and PX7 with me."

"What!? The pacifistas are being dispatched?" a Marine officer asked with a surprised look on his face.

"Of course." Sentomaru answered. "Are you taking the Straw Hats seriously enough?" He asked with a disappointed look on his face. "It's been two years since the war. They've no doubt gotten even stronger!" He said. "They're on an entirely different level from the regular rookies arriving on this island daily!"

But just then, another Marine rushed into the room with an expression of panic printed on his face. "Captain Sentomaru, I have terrible news!" he said in a panicking manner.

"Is this about the Straw Hats?" Sentomaru drawled, eyebrow cocked. "I already know that their Captain, Monkey D. Luffy, is here on Sabaody."

"NO! I'm not talking about Straw Hat Luffy, Captain!" The Marine said. "It's someone _way_ more dangerous! It's 'Whiskered Demon' Senju D. Naruto! He was spotted on this island!"

Sentomaru's eyes widened ever so slightly in shock. "Did you just say Whiskered Demon Naruto is on this island?" He asked, and the nodding confirming the report made a small frown appear on Sentomaru's face, before he turned to look at the two hulking bear like humanoids. "Then in that case, two pacifistas aren't going to be enough." He said.

He had heard how the man had not only killed Admiral Sakazuki in Punk Hazard, but also badly injured Admiral Aokiji, by the time the two males had just started their fight. He also heard that Senju D. Naruto, like Black Beard, now had Sakazuki's ability to control magma; Sentomaru knew that even _three_ pacifistas wouldn't be enough to hold down a dangerous force like that Demon.

"Do you think he's here to join the Straw Hats?" a Marine asked.

Now that's an ugly thought. The Straw Hat were bad enough as it is, and with Whiskered Demon in their ranks, their crew would get even worse… Sentomaru realised that he definitely needed more than two Pacifistas.

"Send word to HQ. We need the Admirals down here!" Sentomaru ordered, even _he_ wasn't sure if a single admiral's help would be enough to deal with the unknown strength of the Whiskered Demon - or as he was known in the Marine force, the Admiral Killer, an annoying nickname that stung the pride of the entire Marine force -rumor has it that he had managed to take out their strongest Admiral, Sakazuki, and defeat another one without even trying, Aokiji, add to the fact that like Black Beard did to the corpse belonging to White Beard, he'd somehow managed to steal Sakazuki's magma powers (this of course was made known following _another_ prisoner raid at Impel Down, one even greater than the one caused by Monkey D. Luffy; this happened shortly after Sakazuki's death) this made Senju D. Naruto the greatest threat the Marines had ever faced in this part of the blue seas.

Even Shiki, captain of the Golden Pirates, or even the late Whitebeard, captain of the infamous Whitebeard pirates, hadn't been that much of a threat; today was certainly shaping out to be a bad day.

 _(Sentomaru POV)_

So here he stood as it is, with five Pacifistas behind him, three of them were taking care of the crowd of pirates, while two stood in place waiting for further commands from him; one of the two robots had earlier confirmed the location of Whiskered Demon, along with Straw Hat. He watched as left and right, Pirates fell under the hands of a confidence rejuvenated marine and three pacifistas.

He heard the Pirates cry out pitifully 'boss' over and over again. It made him wonder. "Boss… are they talking about Straw Hat? Or Whiskered Demon?" He whispered, eying every corner for said two pirates, until that is a body smacked into his… he neither moved from his spot nor flinched.

"Oi, get out of my way!"

"Huh?" He sharply intoned, looking down at the person that bumped into him, the Fake Straw Hat Luffy. "Who the hell are you?" He asked. He faintly heard some of the pirates running call him boss, and he heard some of the faint requests, but he heard something else. "Why are they calling you Straw Hat Luffy?"

The Fake Straw Hat Luffy sputtered a bit, gathering what's left of his confidence. "Oi-oi bastard! You know who I am, don't you?" He said to him (Sentomaru) in a shaky tone. "Get the hell out of my way unless you want to get killed and have your innards ripped out!"

 _SMACK!_

"Shut up! Straw Hat isn't a piece of scum like you!" Sentomaru angrily yelled, with the flat surface of his axe was suddenly slammed on the head of the Fake Straw Hat Luffy.

Fake Luffy was knocked out, and thus silence reigned in the entire groove.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… _Ehhhhhhhhh!?"_

"I get it." Sentomaru realised, as he noted the expression of shock and rage in most of the crowd of pirates that had gathered on their faces. "All these guys were tricked into joining a fake Straw Hat Crew." His eyes shifted to the knocked out Fake Luffy. "PX-5, who is this guy?"

Behind him, one of the hulking humanoids beeped in response, as his blank eyes turned down to look at the knocked out body of the pirate in front of him. "He is known as pirate, Triple-Tongue Demalo Black. Bounty: 26, 000, 000 belli." PX-5 replied in a monotone voice.

"26 million?" a pirate questioned in shock.

"…See? I told you, he was a fake all along…!" another pirate said.

One pirate asked, "...You mean he's been using the fact of Straw Hat's death to trick us?"

"Yeah! He took the advantage of the death of the real one!" another pirate answered.

Sentomaru's eyes shifted from left to right, listening as these pirates were talking among each of themselves, but he had had enough and decided to speak up at this point. "Demalo Black's a fool for trying to deceive me like that-" His voice carried along in all directions as he spoke. "-but you guys who fell for it are also out of luck!" He said before he paused and continued, "We're taking all of you into custody; luckily, by some strange coincidence, the real Straw Hat Luffy, and a possible future accomplice, Whiskered Demon Naruto, are here in Groove 46. PX-5 locked on to both pirates the moment we entered this area." Sentomaru then ordered, "PX-5, target them now!"

 _Current Time – Third Person POV_

 _WHOOSH_

The two simultaneously leapt in the air in opposite directions and back flipped, they narrowly avoiding the beam that might have hit them if they remained on the spot they leapt from.

 _BOOM!_

Luffy, had carefully landed on the makeshift stage, just as one more explosion rocked the area he once stood, however as he did, his disguise, which was given to him by Boa Hancock, had fallen off of him…

"That was close." He breathed, holding down his hat in shock, before he looked up, with an angry pout on his face, at the one that shot him. "Hey, why did you come and do that!?" He shouted. "I have a lot of valuable lunches stored in this backpack, you know!"

…the expression on the face of 99% of those that saw this was shock.

" _That's the same face from the wanted poster!"_

 **{** Insert Music: We Go! **}**

"You nearly got killed, and all you can think about is food?" Naruto said, while he landed beside Luffy in a laid back manner, with his hood off of his head. "Seriously, Monkey-chan?"

"Call me Luffy-" Luffy corrected, looking at Sentomaru, before turning to Naruto with a pout on his face. "-and Hancock-san made that food 'specially for me! Of course I'd be worried!"

Meanwhile, the gathered crowd were still in shock and awe at seeing the two legendary pirates standing side by side next to each other; they were too stumped to do anything at the moment.

Naruto easily ignored this, he instead shook his head with a sigh, before shrugging. "I guess is something I should have already expected from you." He said, knowing from watching Luffy's adventures, that this wasn't exactly the first time Luffy valued food over the safety of his own life.

He should have seen this coming.

Sentomaru, after finally getting his grip at seeing the two very dangerous pirates standing in front of him, called out to one of them in particular. "Straw Hat!"

"Huh!?" Luffy responded, frowning at the sight of the sumo wrestler-like man. "You're going to get in my way again?" He intoned in a rather very slight demanding tone. "She told me that it'd be harder to set sail if I cause some commotion."

Sentomaru smirked, "Don't worry, you're not going to set sail today; things have changed!" He shouted at Luffy. "Within these past two years, I've officially become a Marine and have gotten stronger; I'll capture you right here and now…!" He paused, before he turned to the figure that was standing next to Luffy. "…and don't think I've completely forgotten about you, Whiskered Demon; you're under arrest for the murder of Admiral Sakazuki and freeing more than 200 dangerous criminals from Impel Down!"

Luffy clenched both his arms on his side in anger, at the very thought of Sakazuki, the man that murdered Ace right in front of his eyes - he still hadn't forgiven the monster for that. He looked down at his feet with his bangs covering his eyes. "…Why?" He quietly asked.

"…PX-5! PX-7!"

"You're not the only one that knows Ace, Monkey-chan." Naruto quietly answered. "To me, Ace was the only friend I had in a _very_ long time, something _had_ to be done." He explained with a small frown on his face, before a Golden flame like aura flared behind him and wrapped around his entire form like a blanket (Story Picture) with his right arm was stretched to his side, and his hand opened widely.

In a flash of yellow, he disappeared and when he appeared, he stood behind Sentomaru in a laid back manner with the hilt of a black katana held on his right hand, and the dull part of the blade resting on his shoulder.

"Marine-san, please don't think these toys can take me on." He said, before he was gone again in a yellow flash just before Sentomaru could answer. He appeared next to Luffy in a crouch – with one of his knee slightly bent down – and as the katana disappeared from his hand, as the two PX models behind him exploded, creating a fiery dome as it did; it of course pushed back the pirates and marines that where within close proximity to said blast.

 _KA-BLAM_

"Heh, not bad." Luffy said, grinning. His earlier mood was forgotten. He guessed this guy was okay. The blonde man seemed cool enough, and he looked strong and fast, and he had a cool technique too boot!

Naruto looked at Luffy from the corner of his eyes and he smirked. "You never answered my question, Monkey-chan." He said. "Can I join your crew or not?"

"I already told you, it's Luffy, L-U-F-F-Y!" Luffy answered, spelling his name to make sure the golden man got it before grinning. "And sure, you can join!"

Sentomaru angrily grit his teeth and glared at the glowing blonde. _'So this is the power he used to kill Sakazuki-sama_. _'_ He thought, kissing his teeth. "PX-3, PX-4, capture them!" He ordered when he turned sharply to the remaining models.

Naruto turned around (he was still in his Golden Aura Mode) and he was about to rush in and attack the other two Pacifistas that were charging at them, but the back of Luffy's hand in front of his face stopped him in his tracks.

"No, I'll take care of them." Luffy told him, shaking his head slightly, tightly clenching his hand to a fist, before he then punched the air; two tire like bumps on the Luffy's formed, and traveled from his shoulder to his elbow, to his wrist and then back; Naruto immediately knew what this meant.

" **Gear Second!** "

Luffy's skin turned red, smoke started escaping from his sweat glands, just as soon as he had said those two intimidating words, and before anyone else could even blink – and faster than 98% of the gathered could follow, Luff blitzed in front of the two charging pacifistas, then his two arms stretched and smacked each of the pacifistas faces, snapping their neck instantly.

"… **Gomu, Gomu no: Twin Jet Pistol!** "

 _KA-BOOM_

Jaws dropped and eyes widened in shock as many processed what just happened in front of them. Sentomaru's eyes widened in pure shock. He was one of the two percent that really knew what had happened. _'Straw Hat coated both his hands in Haki!'_ He thought in awe, before a frown formed on his face while he grit his teeth. ' _Damn it! I didn't think he'd get_ this _strong in these two years!'_

Luffy, meanwhile, landed on the make-shift stage, next to a clearly impressed Naruto, before he then put on his large sack. "Hehe, come on blonde-san let's go!" Luffy grinned, as he hopped off the stage and started to run. "I'm sure the others would be excited to meet you!"

"Sure, but my name is Naruto!" Naruto said, as he followed after Luffy in a quick dash, with his hands throne behind him, easily catching up to him - and of course matching his speed – and Luffy's grin turned to a smile as he kept running, before he turned to Sentomaru whose form was pulling away from him.

He shouted, "Later Sumo-san! I'm sure I'll be seeing you again!"

Sentomaru yelled, "Wait Straw Hat! Whiskered Demon!"

"Don't let those two run away, capture them!" A marine lieutenant shouted earning a cry of 'yes sir!' in response from the marine army gathered, before they started to chase after the two fleeing pirates.

Luffy was still grinning ear to ear as he ran from the marines with Naruto running by his side, before he heard the familiar voice of someone call out to him.

"Oi Luffy!" It said, and one other voice added, "Luffy, it was you after all! How can you be in so much trouble already?"

Luffy looked up in shock, before his smile got wider in excitement, as he saw two very familiar faces that weren't fakes this time. "There's no mistaking it this time!" He exclaimed. "I really missed you guys! Zoro, Sanji!"

' _I can see that you two have improved a lot as well.'_ Naruto inwardly with a smirk, as he felt the power coming from the two Straw Hat Pirates, while he ran beside Luffy. _'I guess it's up to me to see just by how much.'_

' _Roronoa, Black Leg!'_ Sentomaru exclaimed inwardly in shock, at seeing the two run towards Straw Hat and Whiskered Demon. "So they're all alive, all this time as well…" He said through grit teeth. _'Damn it all to hell!'_ He looked at the last remaining PX model. "…PX-6!" He shouted, and responding to his order, the PX model charged at Zoro and Sanji, planning on executing them as per programming.

Zoro and Sanji both glared at the incoming PX model and each readied their various attacks as they kept on charging, with Zoro pulling out his three swords and Sanji activating his **Devil Leg** mode.

They both charged at the PX Model simultaneously yelling, "Move it!"

 _SMACK! CRASH!/SKNIT!_

"I cut it!" Zoro growled - Sanji retorted, "I snapped its neck!"

…and behind them, like those before it, the PX Model, exploded in a fiery dome.

 _BOOM!_

 _(Marine HQ)_

Since the fall of their original HQ and Mariejois at the hands of Senju D. Naruto – he was now considered one of world's most dangerous men following the death of Admiral Sakazuki which happened more than a year ago – a new Marine HQ was built to replace the old one (with all he had managed to achieve, Senju D. Naruto received the same infamy as Monkey D. Dragon with his defiance of the world government, and show of power he had made it to the top of the most wanted list within the Marines).

Within the new Marine HQ, in a rather accommodating room – at this very moment – the new Marine's Fleet Admiral and his subordinates all sat comfortably, and these four officers were none other than: Fleet Admiral Yagura, Admiral Kuzan Aokiji, Admiral Borsalino Kizaru, and finally, the newly appointed Admiral Fujitora Issho, and in the middle of where they sat, on a round table, was a private line Den-Den Mushi; they were currently speaking to the person on the other line of their current call.

"We have all received word about the current situation in Sabaody…" The person on the other line started. "…that the Straw Hat Pirates have appeared and are recruiting new subordinates under our watch, what do you have to say for yourself, Fleet Admiral Yagura?"

"The situation, as we have it, is currently under our control, sir." Yagura replied in a monotone voice, with his two hands crossed over his chest. "We've already deployed a small force, and five of our Pacifista Models to round up every one that's participating in that event. Sentomaru-san is the one leading this charge."

Seeing as Sentomaru had already effortlessly handled Straw Hat Luffy once, there was no harm in sending him after the rookie pirate again.

"That's all well and good, but I believe Sentomaru and a small army of soldiers and Pacifistas are not enough to handle the threat currently residing on Sabaody." Another one said wisely. "Please know that I am not referring to the Straw Hat Crew-"

"-ah yes, Senju D. Naruto." One other voice continued with a light humming in his tone. "I must say, that young lad has caused up quite the stir." He said. "Not only did he manage to kill one of our strongest, he somehow broke into our stronghold in Mariejois, freed all the slaves, and then he completely destroyed it."

"Don't forget, like Monkey D. Luffy, Naruto-san managed to not only break into Impel Down, he also freed some of the prisoners held in captivities." Another said in a disapproving tone. "I also managed to note that he freed the prisoners captured by the late Sakazuki…"

That much was true as much as it was strange, they also wondered how the Demon had gotten a hold of the list of the people said admiral captured.

"To him, this must be some form of added revenge to Sakazuki-san, or the other." The first one that spoke to Yagura said. "But we're getting out of track. Yagura, you haven't answered what I asked. What is your solution to this problem? Sentomaru and his gathered entourage aren't the forces we need for this kind of situation."

"We send two of our admirals to Sabaody Archipelago." Yagura flatly stated with dull eyes as he looked at the phone. "They should be enough to handle the situation, but we'll need volunteers."

"Yes, because _two_ Admirals were enough to take _him_ down."

Yagura frowned at the response he received. "Fine. I will deploy all _three_ admirals to Sabaody to deal with the threat immediately." He decided. "That alone should be enough man power to deal with Whiskered Demon and the Straw Hat Crew shouldn't it?"

"You should watch that tone of yours lad-" One of the voices snapped at Yagura. "-but yes, the three should be enough man power at the moment." It added softly. "Be sure you have the job done Yagura-san, do _not_ let us down."

 _Be-loop_

The call ended shortly after that, and a small sigh escaped from Yagura's lips before he looked up at the gathered three admirals. "I hope you three all got that." He said. "I'd really hate it if I repeated myself."

"Yeah, we got it." Aokiji replied with a drawl and a sigh. "So, Straw Hat and Whiskered Demon huh? Looks like we got our works cut out for us."

"Yeah." Yagura responded. "But you've fought him before. What can you tell us about Whiskered Demon Aokiji? Did you manage to retrieve anything from him that might be useful to us as you faced him?"

Aokiji frowned behind his glasses. "No." He said. "The only thing I managed to note was that he has some kind of ability that nullifies the powers of other devil fruit whose users are within close proximity." He explained.

"Ho-ho… _that_ might be a problem." Kizaru said.

"I can see that, a rather frightening ability indeed." Yagura stated, "I have no doubt that it was what helped him defeat Sakazuki-san, but it should not be enough to deter us from our current objective." He finished before he then turned around and walked to the only door in and out of their meeting room. "Aokiji, Kizaru, come with me..." He said, as his figure left the room and into the shadows of the hallways, before he stopped and turned his head to the right to look back at the three with the corner of his eye.

"... _I believe it's time we_ _let lose the dogs of war on our enemies…_ "

* * *

To Be Continued.

* * *

 **Authors Note:** This is here a new side-project that just wouldn't leave my head until I finally posted it for you guys to comment, favorite, and finally, follow and I'm sure some of you would have noted some slight… _deviations_ from canon (shout out to the title), and for those that missed it, I suggest that you go back and read it because obviously, they would play major roles in this story.

 **Jinchūriki no Mi:** a Mythical Zoan class that holds 9 of the most powerful devil fruits known to man: it doesn't share the singular weakness all devil fruit seem to share, and unlike the normal ones, the devils in the fruit fully _BOND_ with its consumer, imagine what one could do with that kind of power; good thing Hashirama Senju kept them locked in a safe, only _he_ has access to...

 **Devil Fruit Type:** Mythical (Demonic) Zoan.

 **Class:** Jinchūriki no Mi **.**

 **Model:** Kyubi no Yoko.

 **Capabilities:** Unlike other devil fruits, the devil's soul within this class of fruit completely bond with their host's soul, this eliminates the usual weakness to sea stone, and another advantage of the bond is that it affects its user to a cellular level, this means that the user/consumer not only can transfer some of their powers to their children, their children's children will also have an aspect/ability of the devil the original user is bonded with.

 **Applications:-**

\- Look up Shinto Deity (Inari) & Kitsune Physiology on Google.

\- Technology Possession.

\- Ability Thievery via Life-Force Manipulation.

 **Note:** There are 9 fruits in this class, all more powerful than the last, but its use and strength is limited to their consumers imaginations, and the fruits are: Ichibi no Tanuki, Nibi no Nekomata, Sanibi no Isonade, Yonbi no Sokou, Gobi no Houkou, Rokubi no Namekuji, Nanabi no Kabutomushi, Hachibi no Kyogyū and finally, Kyūbi no Yōko Kitsune (don't know if I got all of them right), these fruits not only grant the user tremendous power with few weaknesses, they also grant the user a unique healing factor which may allow them to live for a long time if used right.

*POI: Person Of Interest.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or One Piece.

 **Inspired By:** Neon Zangetsu (passing the torch).


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note:** I've decided to change a few things in the story just so that some things can work out the way I want them to, and one of those things that I'm changing is the year of the Time Skip Oda gave us. In my story, instead of it being **Two Y** **ears** , the time the Straw Hats were separate from each other was **Four Years**. Why I decided to change it? Well I needed a more believable reason for Luffy to be as strong as he we know, because two years isn't just that enough to squeeze in all that training, also with the extra time bonus, Luffy could get stronger than he was in Canon meaning that this Luffy, the _Luffy in my story, is at the moment, stronger than Canon Luffy_ ; this applies to the rest of the Straw Hat crew as well: _they're stronger than their canon characters_.

Will this bring a change to some of the plots? Logically, it should, but I'm not going to do that because I've not actually prepared for all the possible scenarios that could occur: Hody overthrows Neptune with his new Fishman Pirates, Ceaser successfully creates Smiley V2 and kills off the children including Momosuke… they're so many things that could change because of the time skip, but I'm going to not really change anything in terms of the canon story – maybe a few things here and there, but not that much.

 **Double Post** : I know people hate it when authors do this, I myself included - especially when there's no reason explaining why it was done - but I have a reason and it's to add something I've missed in the original post. If you'll read the chapter, you'll notice some of the changes, heck some of you would notice some of the changes at the begining of the first authors note; but anyways, as I said, I added a few text here and there to give the chapter more of a flow if you will, threw in a little info of the pairing's history just in case there are those that are wondering.

 **Naruto Villains:** In some of the Naruto/One Piece stories I've read, they don't do this part properly, heck, even my other one piece story, **A Dragon Sets Sail** didn't execute this part properly as well, but this here is going to be different. The villains here will appear in Naruto Canon Chronological order - main villains, but no Orochimaru because I see him as a weak bastard who relies on others strength instead of his own, unlike Kabuto - and for those that have already guessed who's Naruto's first villain, No, it's not Mizuki. It's the one that comes in _after_ Mizuki (don't worry, I have a plan for that).

* * *

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or One Piece. The only thing that Iclaim ownership to, is the capability of my OC (and maybe overpowering of my) Devil Fruit.

* * *

 _Once, there was a man who obtained everything, the legendary Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, his last words before he was executed inspired people to sail the seas… "-all my wealth and treasure? It can be yours if you want, search for it! I left everything at that one place: One Piece-"… People now set sail in search for romance; the world has entered a Great Age of Pirates!_

 **{** Start Instrumental: We Go! **}**

 _jitto dekinai tomarenai  
yoake ga osokute JIREttai  
ichi, ni, Sunshine yon…WII GOO!_

 _hata o ageyou Break of Romance Dawn  
namikaze tateyou SURIIPU kara no JANPU SUTAATO  
arienai sekai o yuku nara  
kimi no TAFUNESU sore ga hitsuyou_

 _medachisugi sore tte tsumi?  
shimei tehai __tsumari Winner (_ _•_ _•_ _)  
jiyuu dake ga oretachi no RUURU  
shinpai nante doko fuku kaze_

 _zettai WAN PIISU ichiban-nori  
yumemiru kokoro wa chou DEKAI  
samenai koto ga daiji  
jitto dekinai tomarenai  
yoake ga osokute JIREttai  
ichi, ni, Sunshine yon…WII GOO!_

 _oretachi wa…koko made kita ze  
oretachi wa yuku…yume no arika e  
dare mo oite'kanai ze…_

 _zenshin aru no mi sore ga chikai  
yume ga hajimatta ano hi kara  
mezasu mirai wa onaji  
jitto dekinai tomarenai  
KOKORO no taiyou shizumanai  
ichi, ni, Sunshine ichi, ni, Sunshine  
ichi, ni, Sunshine yon…WII GOO!  
WII GOO!_

 **{** Instrumental: We Go! End **}**

* * *

Chapter Two: Complications.

* * *

After a wild run filled with many obstacles and surprises, Luffy, Naruto Zoro and Sanji all now were able to see a glimpse of the Thousand Sunny with the help of Chopper – the devil reindeer had arrived just in time and assisted them with traveling to the ship faster by traveling via giant bird things – within their sights, and as they drew closer and closer, their eyes could see the rest of the crew as they stood waiting on the deck for them to finally arrive; the expression on each of their faces varied from either excitement, to joy, to happiness, to delight and so on, but the most common one was that of relief.

Luffy wore an expression of relief, as he drew closer and closer to his friends, his _nakama._ Sanji on the other hand wore an expression of rage and bitter jealousy as he glared at the other blonde man accompanying him and the others to their ship.

Naruto either missed the glare, or didn't care about it in the slightest. His mind was on focused on something else.

' _It's really nice to see the faces of the remaining stars of my favorite_ 'TV Show', _and it's really nice to see you again, Robin-chan.'_ Naruto thought, looking down at Robin with a small smile on his face.

Robin saw him and paused in surprise, before she sent a sincere smile at his direction. _'It's been a while, hasn't it, Naruto-kun?'_ She thought, before she said out loud. "It looks like Captain-kun has made a friend."

Her words focused the confused attention of the crew towards her in, before they shifted back to the direction where Robin just calmly pointed to, and as she noticed, they had seen that Luffy had brought along an unknown.

Usopp was the one to ask the question all in their – the ones that were standing on the deck of the Thousand Sunny – minds, as Luffy, Naruto, Zoro, a glaring Sanji and Chopper landed. "Oi Luffy, who's he?" He asked, pointing to Naruto whose hood had fully fallen off.

Luffy grinned stupidly. "He's our new crew mate!" He answered.

"…"

"…"

"…"

 _SMACK_

"You idiot! How can you decide something like that without letting the rest of us know? How do we know he won't kill us all when our guard is down!?" Nami snapped angrily, while waving her clenched fist at Luffy, who was on the ground with a bump growing on his head.

"It's alright… Nami-chan, is it?" Naruto reassures, ending with a question, as he walked to Nami with a smile on his face. "Robin can vouch for me, just ask her yourself."

Nami's anger diminished and she couldn't stop the pink hue that formed on her face as she saw the small charming smile on Naruto's face, before she cleared her throat and turned to a smiling Robin, "You… know him?" She asked.

"Yes, Nami-san." Robin answered, "Naruto and I have met once before, there's no need to worry yourself around him; he's harmless." She said, but in her answer, she _might_ have omitted that Naruto was only harmless and friendly when he was around friends and when said friends are safe.

He was just like Luffy in that regard.

Nami didn't know why, but she felt a small pang jealousy when Robin confirmed that she knew him, in a fondly about the blonde, and looking at said blonde in question, she could see that he was sending Robin a fond smile in return. She shook her head to clear her mind, remembering that there was a serious matter at hand. "That's not enough." She said, crossing her hands with as a frown formed on her face as she turned to Luffy. "How can we even trust someone we know nothing about?"

"We trusted Robin, and we knew nothing about her." Usopp pointed out, clearly remembering Robin's first time in the crew.

"We knew she was working with Crocodile, but that's beside the point!" Nami snapped. "At least in Robin's case, she showed she could be trusted."

"Do you mean when she bribed you with money?" Zoro asked with a deadpanned stare. "You quickly changed your mind when money was involved back then, didn't you?"

Nami once more blushed, but it was for a different reason this time. Sanji was knocked out the moment his eyes spotted both Robin and Nami; he wasn't able to counter Zoro's statement and defend Nami's 'honor'.

Chopper was too busy worrying for Sanji's health like the faithful doctor he is.

"Mou… calm down Nami, it's all right~" Luffy pouted, as he got up and sat in a lotus position after he recovered from Nami's blow, before he grinned. "Naruto-san's a good guy! Trust me!"

"Naruto-san you said? As in 'Whiskered Demon' Senju D. Naruto?" Franky walked up to Naruto and inspected him with a critical eye. "I think I've heard about you. Weren't you the one that went to Impel Down and freed all those prisoners?"

"Most of the prisoners I freed were innocent of what they did." Naruto answered, while crossing his arms and looking at Franky with a challenging stare. "They didn't deserve to be serving time in the lowest pit of that human hell."

" _Wooooow!_ What a _cool_ answer!" Franky declared, in his own unique way, before shooting a thumbs up at Nami's direction. "He's alright, Nami!" He said.

Nami frowned at Franky, before she glared at the grinning Luffy for a few minutes; she then let out a defeated sigh. " _Fine_." She spat, defeated. "But if anything happens to one of us because of him, it's on _your_ head, got that!?" She warned before she suddenly stopped as her ears picked a very familiar chime and her nose perceived an also familiar scent, which was accompanied by a set of words…

"… _Boy, this bag of money sure is heavy~_ "

Nami's mood instantly changed.

"I'll take care of that for you, Naruto-onii-sama!" She hurriedly and cheerfully offered, instantly appearing in front of Naruto and snatching the very tall and thick sack of money that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, before grinning at Naruto and adding, "And welcome to the Straw Hat Pirate crew!" She grinned widely, walking away with the sacks of money in her hand, and Naruto smirked.

"Wow, she sure changed her mood pretty quick." Usopp deadpanned, as he watched Nami skip away happily with the sacks of money on her hands. "She sure hasn't changed one bit, in these past 4 years."

"Yeah." Luffy responded to Usopp's statement, with a fond look and smile on his face. "It's really nice to be around familiar faces after so long." He finished, observing everyone, before he finally got a full view of Franky and his new look.

He blinked.

"… _Sugoi!"_

Naruto watched with a smile on his face, as Luffy beeline dash for Franky, before he gave a small sigh and looked up at the clouds in the sky. _'What do you think of Luffy now, Ace?'_ He wondered mentally, _'In a way, I guess your death was a good thing…'_ He added in thought with a sense of nostalgia as he remembered Ace staring back at him with a 'superior' smirk plastered on his face after he, Naruto, lost to a game of poker...

'… _And I'm supposed to be the one_ giving _Luck to others._ '

Flashback.

"I win again fishcake." Ace loudly taunted, slamming a deck of poker cards on the table in front of him with a smug smirk on his face, as he stared at the blue eyed blonde in front of him; once again, he had won in a game of poker against the self-proclaimed, ' _Walking_ _Lucky Charm'_ , and said 'Lucky Charm' couldn't help but let out growl, at realising his loss.

This had been his 10th loss against the so called 'Ace in the hole' in front of him, and he was _very_ displeased.

Right now, the two were sitting comfortably in a concrete built house, which sat on a man-made island, created by said Lucky Charm himself, and it wasn't just like _any_ island… no, this one was a very special island, just like its animals, because on really good days – like today – this island's gravity was considered normal; well, as normal as living on a place with 50 times earth's gravity could be to you.

Those were just the good days.

On bad and 'training' days however, the gravity increased by the 100's, 200's, or even 300's, but then, there were those rare occasion where it dropped to -10's, -100's and so on – but all in all, it was the perfect island for those that needed to test their strength; for those that knew about it, at the very least (the island that is).

Ace had been attracted to it precisely because of that.

It was an island where: if one wasn't strong enough they would be crushed completely, and if the gravity didn't kill them, then they were left helpless as their body weight increased leaving you at the tender mercy of the island animals. Oh yeah, he forgot to mention, every animal here, on this island, they were freakishly strong (that is when taken out of the island, where they could easily crush a small mountain with just a swing of their paws, or cut them easily with their claws… on this island, since everything was tougher they didn't do as much damage) and that is why it was the perfect training ground to test ones strength.

The first time Ace had come here was when he had first joined the Whitebeard Pirates, as a way to prove his worth – obliviously as he was back then - he had come to the island and tried to live here for an entire day on his own with no one to help him once he'd found it… but of course, _that_ hadn't gone too well, and had it not been for Naruto, he would have died pitifully within the first five minutes.

At first he couldn't believe that someone could live in this Island, much less survive, but the he saw how the blond man made it look like it was the easiest thing in the world, and after a short while, they had hit it off; Ace returned every so often to keep the man company.

After all he lived like a hermit, secluded from everyone and everything, while taking solace in Nature… enough about that however.

"One more time…!"

Naruto just demanded a rematch to another game of poker, with his vein angrily pulsing at on his forehead, at seeing that damn smirk on Ace's face, something that very much annoyed him - seeing the brat all smug like he was the all that, "…and don't call me fishcake, you stupid firefly!"

 _SMACK!_

"Don't call me firefly, fishcake!" Ace sneered, shaking his fist at the downed Naruto, before he was suddenly blindsided by a spring round house kick from Naruto.

 _SMACK! CRASH!_

"I'll call you firefly because you're as annoying as a bug!" Naruto returned with a superior smirk at seeing Ace fly a good ten meters away from him. He didn't actually use his full strength. That would kill the guy.

As usual, their poker game ended with a small brawl between the two. When one of them got into this type of winning streak, it always ended in a fight between the two.

"You know old man, you remind me a lot of my little brother-" Ace said, getting up. "-both of you're are sore losers, and big whiners." He taunted, looking at Naruto with a smirk. "And you both can't take losing to someone who is clearly better… at _everything_ … including this roguish look." he motioned to his awesome good looks.

Naruto stared at him with a heated glare, before he smirked.

"Why Ace-c _han_ I didn't know you swung that way." He returned. "Maybe you came to the wrong island, the Okama Island is nowhere near here." He said, liking the twitching on Ace's face. "It's no wonder you're always dress that way; trying that hard to get attention… yeah, this makes you look desperate you know~" He ended with a playful note to his tone.

Twitch.

Twitch.

" _Bastard!_ "

Punches were thrown, kicks shot out and connected with their various targets, and furniture's flew in all directions, and when all was said and done with, when everything calmed down, two bodies laid on the ground, one bruised more than the other.

"You sure are strong Old Man." Ace said, with a grin on his face, despite the bruises that ached here and there. "Even till now, I'm still not strong enough beat you!"

Naruto grinned. "Well, with age does come experience, and I've got nothing better to do than train my ass off." He commented, while he sat up on the ground. "But don't sell yourself any shorter than you already are Ace-chan, you're strong enough to give a lot of people a run for their money!"

Ace grunted, sitting up and holding his head in pain, before he grabbed his bag and brought out a sake bottle with two small sake plates.

"Luffy is going to be jealous that you're able to beat me while he can't." He stated, amused about that. "I wonder what he's doing now…" he trailed off with a sense of nostalgia.

Naruto poured the sake into each of the plates provided. "Looks like you miss your little brother a lot, huh?" He asked, snapping Ace out of his trance-like look. He wasn't really a stranger to the two's relationship; Ace after all talked about Luffy a lot.

"Yeah." Ace replied, picking up a flask of sake and looked at Naruto, with a smile forming on his face. "You know, when I was a kid, I told my brother that by drinking this Sake together it would forge a bond so strong that there was nothing that could break it." He explained. "I told him that this was a way for both of us to become the brother we never were, and I've decided that I would really like to do the same with you."

 _Fast Forward_

On his island, with tears welling up in the corner of his eyes, Naruto D. Senju stood in front of a grave, where some familiar items were placed: a hat, a pair of goggles, and a sake bottle. On the grave bottom of the grave, was a message for anyone to read, and on the grave itself, written very boldly was a name.

The scene was one, filled with nothing but sombre.

Animals moaned or whined in agony, and along with this sad tune, the flowers and plants and roots didn't have that particular 'glow' that gave them their usual 'strength'.

" _Here lies, a beloved son, a faithful friend and a brother; may his soul forever lay in peace."_

His first friend.

His first and only friend in over two hundred years, gone.

He sooner should have realised that his cowardice would only lead to more pain.

He should have stood firm and fought, instead of fleeing like he did back then; maybe if he had, maybe if he wasn't such a scared man back then, he wouldn't have lost a friend, but on the other hand, he wondered if he would have eventually met the man who eventually became his adopted brother – as a different man than he was (now) in time – should he have taken that action.

Would they be enemies?

Would they be as close as they were?

Would they even not get the meet each other and bond as they did?

The answer to those questions didn't matter as much as what was happening right now, here, at this very moment.

 _It was time to make a decision._

On this day, Naruto D. Senju made a promise to himself.

"This day on my life I swear to your grave Ace, that I'll _murder_ that bastard who thought that he could get away with murdering you." Naruto softly declared. "And I promise, I'll do my very best to protect Luffy, as he makes his way to become the best Pirate King in history..."

That was the day Naruto had also decided to get back in shape, further explore his abilities, and finally leave his island never to return in a _very_ long time.

That was the day, Naruto D. Senju decided to come out of hiding.

That was the day Sakazuki, and anyone that followed him and his way of thinking blindly, was marked for death.

He looked up to the cloud with a crooked smile on his tear stained face and gave the smiling image of ace a thumbs up.

"… _Believe it!"_

Flashback end

Naruto could still remember that day, and despite knowing there was no reason to feel such an emotion, he still felt a form of blinding rage the moment his thoughts hovered around the mental image of the self-proclaimed 'Akainu', Sakazuki.

His musings and feelings were shot, however, the moment he felt the softness of a warm hand cup his cheek, which was then immediately followed by a pair of lips meeting with his. He instantly knew who the set of lips belonged to, having been accustomed to it more than once in his life. ' _Robin-chan...'_ He thought, deepening the kiss with her, with the two of them blissfully ignoring the looks any of them might be receiving from the crew.

Years ago, just as he was about to begin the prisoners captured by Akainu - he knew this from the memory he absorbed from the marine - he had crossed paths with her, though she was under a different identity then. His first actual meeting with her wasn't that difficult or too complicated. Her personality was one he was totally comfortable with.

Despite already knowing her from Luffy's adventures whenever he viewed them, meeting her personally and getting to know her was a different thing all together, as it should be. During the mission in Impel Down, he realised that the two of them had a lot in common, one of the many things they shared was how similar their past with the Marines were.

Over the course of the mission, he bonded with her quicker than he'd expected, like she did with him, and sooner rather than later, the two soon found themselves slowly falling in love with each other.

He really missed her, and he was sure that she missed him just as much.

She was the second person to fill a great part of the empty void in his life right after Ace. He met her by chance, yes, and he did meet her in a most unconventional way and setting, but he didn't care. He was happy to have done so. He didn't care if his relationship with her was rushed in the slightest.

"Hey you." Naruto softly greeted, after pulling away from her lips.

"Hey yourself, Naruto-kun." Robin replied softly in turn, staring at Naruto's eyes. "You know it's rude to ignore your girlfriend, especially if you're just meeting her after being separated from each other so long." She groused, with a small smile on her face. "I hope you haven't replaced me already. I would be really upset if you did that." Her voice was one of soft disappointment towards the end.

Naruto chuckled quietly at this. His answer was instant. "Flirting with other girls? Maybe, we _did_ say that our relationship was an open one. But replacing you Robin? Why would I want to do that? You're one of a kind, and besides, there'd be no point in that since I know that right at this moment, I have the most beautiful woman in the world to me right in my arms." He responded.

"That's gotta be the corniest recovery line I've ever heard in all my life." Zoro's bland comment reminded them that they weren't exactly as alone as they had originally thought. "At least it's better than what this idiot cook can ever hope to come up with." He added, with a snort, which was followed by the sound of a smack. "Besides, weren't you playing around with that stupid ghost girl moments ago?"

The two turned to see the rest of the crew looking at them, well, those of the crew that weren't currently preoccupied with something or the other at least. Usopp, Luffy, Franky and Brook were the ones looking at him.

"Oh yeah… Robin and I are seeing each other." He said awkwardly, with Robin hanging off his hand, (he painfully winced as Robin had dug her well-manicured nails into his biceps the moment Zoro had mentioned Perona), fortunately - or unfortunately - for him, the very familiar sound of a cannon being fired close by shifted the attention of the crew to the danger racing towards the Thousand Sunny in an equally dangerous speed, and it was too late to redirect its aim.

He braced himself and Robin - who just held onto him - just as everyone braced themselves before the ship shook after the cannonball splashed into the water, and just like the first, three more cannonballs were fired.

 _BOOM!_

 _BOOM!_

 _BOOM!_

"Shit!" He heard Usopp nervously mutter nearby. "If we don't do anything soon, those three will no doubt hit us!"

Naruto would have done something, no, he was prepared to do something about it, yet he didn't need to move a muscle…

" _ **Slave Arrow!**_ "

...because out of nowhere, a hail of pink arrows rained across the side of the Thousand Sunny, piercing through the cannonballs quite easily; this had the added effect of turning all three balls into smooth balls made out of pure stone which of course, not only easily increased their weight, it also redirected their destination to the waters below.

 _(Marine Ship)_

"Damn it! What the hell happened?" One of the marine, a lieutenant, muttered, as he saw the arrows take out his cannon. He immediately turned his head towards the direction where the arrow came from following this, and what he saw made him sputter a bit.

He wasn't the only one sputtering at the sight, and what they all were looking at was a very familiar ship which was now docking directly in front of them.

"That ship…" One of the junior officers muttered. "...that belongs to the Kuja pirates!"

That much was true, and it was further confirmed as the captain of said pirates in question had walked out of her quarters and onto the front deck of her ship, with a clack of her hills and a sexy sway to her hips, and finally, her flawless appearance – it's that of which had every men on that ship immediately swoon.

"Who would be so insolent, as to leave a warship in my path?" The Captain of the Kuja Pirates, Boa Hancock, softly demanded, cocking her hips to the right and placing a hand on the cocked hip in question - this action only served to bolster the admiration of her figure from all the men currently on the marine ship she had intentionally docked in front of.

 _(Thousand Sunny)_

"Oh…" Robin mused in slight shock, releasing her grip on Naruto and walking to the barricade of the boat, while closely observing its exterior design in front of her eyes. "...that's the Kuja's mark." She was referring to the very visible symbol on one of the sails of the red ship that currently docked in front of the marine ship that had attacked them earlier. Its appearance was quite a shock to most of those on the crew.

"The… Kuja?"

"Yes, they're a fierce female pirate crew led by the Pirate Empress, who's also one of the seven Shichibukai, Boa Hancock." Robin explained easily. "As rumor has it: anyone that dares gaze at her 'unmatched beauty', immediately will be overwhelmed, and then turned into pure stone."

If anything, she thought that particular theory was a little farfetched. No devil fruits she knew off had the power to petrify someone into a stone via gaze. However there was one fruit she'd heard about, which had the ability to turn people into stone, the Mero, Mero no Mi; it was a paramecia type fruit. She knew its powers involved turning someone into stone, but to do that with just one gaze?

Laughable!

…but ultimately unbelievable.

' _In any case, the Mero - Mero no Mi has the capability to be a very dangerous Devil Fruit in the hands of a skilled user.'_ Robin inwardly concluded. She wasn't a bit startled when a pair of arms wrapped up around her from behind. _'Her status as a Shichibukai is enough proof as to what sort of level one should expect her skills to be-'_

"-a Shichibukai?!"

"Yes, the Snake Empress: Boa Hancock." Robin answered.

"Trust me, sure she's beautiful, but I've seen others _way_ hotter than her." Naruto said, from behind Robin, winking at Nami as he said that, earning a blush from the Navigator in question. "But she's strong, I'll give her that though."

"But then, why would one of the Shichibukai help us escape?" Nami wondered out loud, as her blush had died down, while also ignoring Brook as the skeleton had snatched Usopp's the Telescope hanging from the sniper's waist and used it to spy on the Kuja Pirate Ship.

"Shichibukai?" Luffy's ears perked up, his neck stretching to see who it was they were talking about at that moment. "Oh, it's Hancock!" He exclaimed. "Oi Hancock!? Oi! What are you doing here?!" he waved, trying to get said Shichibukai's attention from his position.

"She won't be able to hear you from here Luffy." Naruto told him, shooting Luffy a pointed look. "Besides, do you want her and the people she's ruling over back on her island to be in trouble with the marines because of their involvement with you?" He looked at the excited captain beside him with a raised eyebrow as he pointed this out.

"Huh?" Luffy blinked twice at Naruto, as he stopped his waving at that point, before he grabbed his chin with a hum and closed his eyes in thought as he silently mulled over the question which Naruto had asked for a few moments, ignoring the looks he received from some of the others, as he did, before he came to the final conclusion that Naruto was right.

He made a promise to protect everyone he cared about this time, and it would go against his promise if he carelessly 'told' the marines that Hancock and her sisters were with him; he never forgot the other people back at Amazon Lily, and from witnessing the action first hand, he knew that the marines had a way of crossing the nest of Sea Kings quietly in order to charge a sneak attack whenever they pleased.

"Hmm, I guess you're right." He stated with a disappointed pout on his face, while crossing his two hands over his chest childishly. "I wouldn't want Hancock and the others to get in trouble because of me." He added, before he looked at Sanji in slight surprise as he came out of nowhere and grabbed the scruff of his red shirt and started to violently shake him with a look of anger and a fiery aura of jealousy on his face.

 _(Marines and Kuja)_

As expected, the Marines on board their ship were expressing different levels of anger at the pirate ship that blocked their path. It was no mystery as to who the ship belonged to, but its presence here did bring up a few questions from some of those on board the marine ship. "Why are you here, Hancock? Move your ship! Or are you trying to interfere with our mission by allying yourselves with the Straw Hats?" The Marine Lieutenant accused.

"Cease these accusations at once." Hancock returned, rather harshly. "I merely do not wish for you to pass…" Her head tilted slightly to the side, as an alluring smirk formed on her face while she looked at the marines on the ship. "…is that so _wrong_ ~" She added with a slight seductive purr, gaining an almost instant swooning reaction from the men on the marine vessel – and of course, from some of the women that were on her crew – that were watching her. _'Luffy… now's your chance.'_ She thought, sending a subtle wink in the direction of the Straw Hat's ship.

 _(Thousand Sunny)_

Brook flinched and fell heavily on his back, holding his bony chest as if he was shot. "She just… winked at me!" He moaned in bliss.

"We're saved for now." Luffy said with a grin, having removed himself from Sanji a while back. "Let's set sail while we have the chance!" He had earlier explained how he knew Hancock and her the others on the Kuja ship, as well as her people back on Amazon Lily a while back; he blissfully ignored Sanji as he was filled with naught but blind jealousy which only grew in mass, as he continued to remiss on about his adventures on Amazon Lily.

Chopper, who was monitoring Sanji, noted something and looked up at the unusually quiet Usopp. "Is something wrong Usopp?" He asked.

"Did you guys take out the marines on your way here?" Usopp quietly asked, staring off into an unknown distance, as he had noticed a while back that it was far too quiet; he wondered why that was so at this time. He was sure that this place should have been filled with marines by now, or at least he should be hearing the battle cries of marines as they marched towards Sunny.

Chopper looked around with a surprised look on his face. "No… we heard plenty of marines shouting when we were flying here." He answered, as like with Usopp, he too wondered why there weren't any marines surrounding the Thousand Sunny.

 _(Somewhere Else – Same Time)_

Chaos; that basically sums up this scene as any third person viewer spots it. Screams of terror and panic sounded everywhere and with it, many bodies were flung in the air effortlessly; the cause of this? Giant bugs, no really: bugs that were 4-5 stories tall were the direct cause of this panic.

Out of nowhere they came, and started to recklessly attack any person in a marine uniforms. The marines tried their best to defend themselves from the attacks but all their efforts were just as pointless as their bullets that tried and failed to pierce through the skin of the attacking insects.

They were rendered useless and had no choice but to flee and call for reinforcements, but even _that_ was nearly impossible… well the fleeing part actually. Luckily or unluckily, one marine was able to take cover and immediately pull out his Den-Den Mushi. He didn't hesitate to make the back-up call.

"…Requesting back up! Requesting back up! This is the third platoon; do you hear me?!"

" _Yeah, we hear you."_

"It is unlikely that we'll be unable to reach Grove 42 and apprehend the Straw Hats and their allies!"

" _Why!?"_

"Well…"

The marine officer didn't have the time to properly come up with words to explain the current situation before one of the giant insects snuck up on him from behind…

" _Hello? Hello?!"_

…He fled in terror like his allies before him; his Den-Den Mushi lay on the ground forgotten and abandoned.

Unseen by either the forces of the marines, a figure with his back leaning on a wall and his hands crossed over his chest smirked behind his mask.

' _I will not let you interfere with Usopp'n's new adventure!'_

 _(Thousand Sunny)_

"… _Bastard!_ "

 _SMACK!_

 _SMACK!_

 _SMACK!_

"How dare you taint someone as beautiful as _Robin-swan~_ with your ugly vileness!?" Sanji roars as he violently attacks Naruto with his legs. "It wasn't enough you had to steal the heart of Ghost Hime-chan from Thriller Bark was it? You had to do… _this!?_ " He had heard a comment from the resident Three-Style Swords man about how Naruto was now going out with Robin.

Surprise, surprise; this further boosted Sanji's already festering hate at Naruto, especially more when Zoro prompted to taunt him on the fact that the whiskered blonde had more game than he ever did for scoring three hot chicks when he couldn't – oh yeah, Sanji heard how Naruto easily had won Nami's heart – it was no surprise to those that were familiar with Sanji to see him this pissed off over something so trivial; though Nami did smack some sense into Zoro for that comment about her (while making it clear that no one – especially some newbie – had exactly won her heart… _yet_ ).

"It's good for us if the marines have caught themselves in some trouble." Franky commented, as he stretched in his 'Super-Pose'. Originally, he was concerned as Sanji 'attacked' their new crew mate, but he later let it go once he realised just who it was he was being concerned for. "Let's set sail before they get here; Nami, I leave the course to you." He said as he walked over to the ships wooden railing and hopped over them and into the waters below.

Nami nodded, before casually stepping over Zoro's twitching body as she walked to the center of the grassy deck where she demanded attention from the rest of the crew, however, hearing Sanji as he was still attacking fruitlessly attack Naruto caused her to frown at his direction. "That's enough Sanji-kun, stop doing what you're doing." She firmly stated. "I have something important to tell you all."

Sanji's mood instantly switched from ragingly angry monster to a pathetically hopeless love sick puppy with hearts in his eyes. "… _Hai, Nami-swan~_ " He swooned.

Nami nodded in satisfaction, just as the jelly like substance on the Thousand Sunny started to rise up – much to the shock of some of those that felt and watched it rise and rise, until finally of course, the jelly like substance revealed itself to be a bubble which completely encased the ship entirely – before she cleared her throat and started to speak.

"Listen up everyone!" She called out as she calmly unfurled a sheet of paper on her hands. "The coating can reduce any level of water pressure so we need an airbag underneath the ship to keep us floating. Once that's removed, the buoyancy drops and the coated Sunny will sink towards the ocean floor; that's how it works." She explained.

"I see…" Zoro and Luffy dully stated in perfect unison.

" _... You obviously don't understand, idiots!"_ Nami snarled with shark like teeth, pounding the heads of both men rather violently, before she took a deep breath and sighed. "Whatever, just unfold the sails, Chopper, Usopp, it's time we start leaving." She said.

Luffy and Zoro got up from their position on the ground, just as Chopper and Usopp had both climbed to do as Nami ordered. When they were just about done however, the ship had taken a surprise hit from a cannon ball… though it was more of a graze than a hit, but it was more than strong enough to make the entire ship shake, and before some of those on deck had a chance to recover, another cannon ball was already shooting towards their way.

"Leave it to me, I've got thi-" Sanji tried to say as he prepped himself to move and deflect the ball, before he stopped as a yellowish light beam shoots from nearby and pierces right through the coating bubble and then the incoming cannon ball, cutting the attacking ball perfectly in half before both halves explode.

"Sorry about that Sanji, but I couldn't let that ball come any closer or it could have hit us... or were you going to take care of that?"

Sanji slowly twisted his neck, as he turned his head to see a smirking Naruto with his smoking finger pointing in where the cannon ball once was.

' _Damn him to hell!'_ He fumed while anger instantly spiked.

"Then you should have been faster."

"..."

"..."

" _I'LL KILL YOU!_ _!"_

( _Marine Ship – Minutes Later)_

"... _Yagura-sama, we're too late! The Straw Hats have already submerged and set off to Fishman Island; we don't have any available ships to begin the chase!_ "

"It's alright." Yagura calmly replied to the receiver on the other end of the Den-Den Mushi sitting in front of him. "The Straw Hats _are_ formidable rookies. I never expected any of you assigned on Saboady to actually capture or slow them down." He said.

" _What are we going to do?_ " Den-Den asked.

"I have a plan, don't worry." Yagura softly claimed. His eyes glanced to his left and right to see two vessels with the two admirals he selected on the deck of each vessel that was either side of his own. "Send me a detailed report on exactly what happened however, I'd like to know more on what we're dealing with."

" _Understood, Yagura-sama_ … Ga _-_ cha _._ "

Yagura looked up from the Den-Den Mushi and straight at the endless ocean in front of him. His plan of attack wasn't affected by this piece if information in the slightest. He wasn't going to take any chances when it came to taking down Whiskered Demon and Straw Hat, it's why he selected those two particular admirals for his task.

Whatever the case may be, he _will_ make sure that the Straw Hats and their allies fall by his hands. He personally chose to perform on this objective himself because of that mere fact. He wasn't going to let anything stand in the way of his mission.

He would eliminate anyone and anything that dared tried.

* * *

To Be Continued.

* * *

 **Authors Note** : It is unknown of how long the Devil Fruits have existed, I'm guessing they were around more than a millennia before the Great Age of Pirates; with that in mind, I've decided to place Naruto's era 2 centuries before the Great Age of Pirates, this makes him at least more than 200 years old. I know some of you will be bitching about this move, but this is all part of the plot I have planned for the story, also, with this, Naruto's strength shouldn't be a surprise to you, and his already activating his awakening, shouldn't be a surprise to you as well because after all, 200 years _is_ a lot of time to master all the abilities of his Devil Fruit.

You can also imagine the feeling you'd get if you make a friend after many centuries of isolation on your own island… I'm sure you all understand why Ace's death enraged him.

 **Jinchūriki no Mi:** There's something I forgot to mention about the fruit in the last chapter, or maybe I mentioned it and forgot that I did, but it's something you all have to take note of, so that you won't be confused or lost when you see something strange in the story. Unlike most fruits, the souls trapped in this particular class of fruits will completely fuse with the soul of the fruit's consumer, in doing this, the unique weakness (Sea water and anything made from its properties) of the Devil Fruit is not only eliminated, but the physiology of the consumer morphs into the physiology of the devils, giving them all the power, knowledge and attributes of the devil they fused with. Another advantage is that the said consumer – now turned devil – is now able to eat another devil fruit and thus _will_ survive the bonding process (just roll with it). This is only applicable to those who ate any of the 9 fruits in this particular Zoan Class, no ifs and buts.

 **Second Fruit:** Well, that's for me to know and you to find out now isn't it? I've already thrown a few hints here and there, but not too much as I still want it to be a mystery to you all. Though do not fret, like the Jinchiruki no Mi, the second fruit is a _very_ powerful fruit, luckily he ate it, am I right?

 **Possibilities:** Will any of the fruitless Straw Hats gain a fruit? Well I already have one person in mind and I already have the type of fruit in mind that I'm giving said person. If you want to know what it is, read on in future updates!

 **Other Notes:** Okay, while this chapter may seem rushed, bear with me a little bit over here, with the way my life's been lately, I've been swamped with work and had little time to update my stories, I know I missed some scenes of the chapter like 'what happened to between Naruto and Perona' or 'the brief Skypeia' scenes, but why write it when you all already know what's going on behind the backgrounds concerning that? There'd be no point.


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note:** Great to see such an awesome positive reception on this story, and I received some ideas of what Kabuto's fruit should be – or revolve around – and most of them say that I should give Kabuto a Snake Related Devil Fruit Power, well then it's been done, except, it's not going to be what you expect, and I'm going to add a little something that's going to make some of you probably hate me, but bear in mind, this is all part of the plot, and since it's Kabuto, it's quite 'in character' for him to do something so underhanded.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or One Piece series and their canonically owned products and ideas, I'm a fan who just provides idea for their various fandoms and the fandom stories.

Chapter Three: It's All Blue!

The Thousand Sunny had successfully submerged underwater and was now on its wat to the first island which kicks off the second half of journey leading to One Piece, and all thanks went to two sources: the bubble coating surrounding the ship's exterior, and of course the Thousand Sunny's Navigator, Nami; the journey began right after a rousing speech from the ship's captain, and a short speech of introduction from the ship's new crew member, Senju D. Naruto, and like Robin was when she had met first him, there were some that were interested in the D. part of his name but the interest was soon dismissed once it was explained that even _he_ didn't exactly know what it meant.

There were some that were interested in his power and what he did what he did with the cannon ball earlier, and when Zoro saw the hilt of a sword hanging from Naruto's hips, he made a move to challenge the blonde man for a swords fight to test the blonde's strength and skill with his blade; understandably, Naruto felt kind of overwhelmed with all the attention he received from the crew and he would have been in a vulnerable position had Robin not stepped in and politely told everyone to back off, something which Naruto was thankful for.

Now having submerged a few thousand meters into the blue sea of the New World, and having listened to Nami's explanation regarding the coating bubble's weakness, the Thousand Sunny and those on board the ship were enjoying the calmness that came with the ocean, enjoying the presence of each other as they did… some though, they weren't happy at the moment due to the presence of others on their otherwise peaceful ship and there were some of those that sought to exploit that fact.

"That's enough Ero-cook, get over it; it's not like you stood a chance with someone like Robin in the first place." Zoro taunted, jabbing Sanji on the simple fact, that Nico Robin was no longer on the market for a pervert like him.

"Shut up moss head!" Sanji snapped, fuming, unable to accept the fact Zoro laid before him, as his right finger snapped to Naruto. "I will never accept that Robin-swa~" Sanji stopped in mid-sentence as blood trailed down his nose, while he slowly turned his head to Robin; more blood suddenly shot out of his nose like a geyser.

 _CRASH!_

"Ah! Sanji!" Chopper yelled in panic while he snapped into action, moving to take care of the rapidly palling and leaking Sanji.

Zoro snorted and quietly muttered. "Idiot."

Franky stepped back from the steering wheel and walked up to Nami with a look of concern on his face. "Nami, will the ship be safe?" He asked. "Shouldn't we be on guard?" He was new to the whole coating thing, and thinking back to when he was creating the designs for Sunny, he should have added a submerging system that would serve to safely allow his ship to swim and navigate underwater thus eliminating the need for coating, a system – up until lately (his knowledge on the system even now is not completely concrete) – he knew nothing about.

"Well right now we're just riding a large ocean current, so it's fine." Nami replied. "I'd recon that we'll continue on like this for a while; things won't get busy until later."

"Good." Franky said, while letting out a sigh of relief as he pulls up the shades on his eyes. "In that case, I've got more than enough time to explain what I found out not to long ago…"

Naruto looked to Robin sitting on his right with one of her softer hands were comfortably looped around his. "Looks like he's about to tell you guys something important." He said. "You go ahead and listen to what he says."

"Hmm?" Robin cutely tilted her head towards Naruto with naught but a curious look on her face. "And just what are you going to do?" She politely asked. "You're part of the Straw Hats remember?"

Naruto smiled, unfastening his hand from Robin and stretched a bit. "Well, that's just it, I'm a _new_ member, aren't I? I'm going to have to earn my keep after all." He joked.

Robin lightly giggled at his joke. "Luffy doesn't really get bothered with that sort of thing you know..." She reminded as after all, as far as she knew, Luffy hadn't bothered to demand any of those before the blonde male to 'earn their keep'; he was too care free and somewhat of an idiot and too noble to do that.

Naruto grunted. "I know that, but can you speak for the others?"

"Touché." Robin said with a smile, before she got up from her seat and lightly pecked the slightly taller man on right cheek.

Naruto smiled, receiving the peck with acceptance, before he watched as Robin quietly moved to the others to hear what Franky wanted to speak about with a slight hum in her tone. He then sat down back on the wood he was sitting on earlier, and closed his eyes, after he placed both of his hands on each of his lap while he took a few deep breaths to calm himself as he concentrated on calling forth his powers.

 _' **Kenbunshoku: Omoi-Joukei Kaikou!** '_ He mentally called out, and once he did, he immediately felt the difference, as he had suddenly gained a mental visualization of all activities within his Haki viewing radius, meaning he was able to see anything and everything he mentally wished to see with nothing stopping him other than his viewing limit; this allowed him to scope for any possible threats towards him – and by extension, the Thousand Sunny – and when accompanied by his Enhanced Hearing trait, this particular ability is, and always will be, the ultimate spying tool with one weakness only… a weakness he sought to eradicate.

 _(Naruto's View – Sabaody [Moments before the Straw Hats left])_

The situation in one of the many grooves was at least starting to get somewhat under control of the marines in that sector; Sentomaru's veins angrily pulsated as he gripped the Snail Phone on his hand. He monitored his men as they arrested the pirates they could before they had escaped, and now, he was on the phone, speaking to his superior who, at this moment, was now breathing down on his neck for his failure at capturing Straw Hat Luffy and Whiskered Demon Naruto.

"I'm telling you, there was nothing we could do!" He growled in a controlled tome. "My men and I were up against the Dark King Rayleigh and Whiskered Demon Naruto; the strength of the two combined are enough to take out Sakazuki, Aokiji and Kizaru. Tell me, what could _we_ do against _them_?" He nearly snapped. "The only ones that escaped were Caribou brothers and his crew and a few members of the fake Straw Hat Pirates. We captured everyone else but the real Straw Hats and their apparent new ally, Whiskered Demon, dealt heavy damages to the four Pacifistas I had brought."

Sentomaru knew that two out of the four Pacifistas he brought out today were the same two that faced the Straw Hat four years ago (their strength hadn't changed) and the reason he had added the extra two in the first place was because of the appearance of Whiskered Demon. ' _It looks like the Straw Hats have gotten much stronger.'_ He thought.

"… _I got it. This whole situation is a disaster then, no thanks to you Sentomaru; we'll send word to the new navy HQ located in the New World-"_ Den-Den's receiver told Sentomaru. _"It seems that the Straw Hats have completely recovered and have grown stronger –_ Ga-Cha. _"_

Sentomaru frowned, tucking the Snail Phone in his coat pocket. This apparently wasn't the only situation he had to deal with. It seems that other than Whiskered Demon and Dark King, Straw hat Luffy had a lot of unknown allies that were covering his escape; this was a concluded fact he had thought over once he'd heard the numerous reports revolving on that matter.

Already, they had lost a few of their forces because of that – because of Straw Hat today – and it was getting on the nerves of the higher ups who were upset that they were letting him roam free on the seas, and if the higher ups were upset, then that affected all of those they were to whom they were superior, including him.

 _'Damn that Straw Hat!'_ Sentomaru fumed, clenching his right hand while he tightly griped his axe. He was upset with this entirely new situation. He was upset that he let a Rookie like Straw Hat run away. He was upset that Straw Hat had managed to team up with a monster like Senju D. Naruto. He needed to deal with the entire issue on his own, but unlike before, he lacked the power needed.

That upset him.

 _'Tch.'_ Sentomaru scoffed. He looked down at the knocked out form of Demalo Black beside his legs. _'I'll deal with all of that later. Right now, I need to stabilize the situation on Saboady as much as I can before I return to the new Marine HQ.'_

[Naruto frowns at this as he hears Sentomaru's thoughts. He felt this might lead to some problems later on, but that was only on a worst case scenario. He shifted his view elsewhere.]

"Bro, it's difficult to dig here!"

"Of course it is; these islands are mostly just tree roots."

Earlier, after they successfully fled from the marines, Caribou, his brother, and his pirate crew had successfully captured the fleeing pirates that had the _audacity_ to dared make a fool of him by posing themselves as the infamous Straw Hat Pirates, a crew he sought to infiltrate, befriend and later kill, to claim their bounty; he was upset with the situation, despite being aware of that particular farce beforehand, it was why he ordered graves to be dug for the sinners – killing the sinners by burying them alive was after all what he was ordered to do by the almighty Kami. He blatantly ignored their pleas for forgiveness and otherwise.

"Please forgive us! Don't bury us!" Fake Zoro begged, kneeling beside the sobbing fake Nami.

Fake Sanji sobbed, "We'll do whatever you want, just don't kill us!"

"The Captain forced us to do it!" Fake Franky cried, he too was on his knees like the rest. "That damn Black!"

Caribou ignored all the pathetic pleas and he instead got up from his chair like a puppet being pulled up by strings. "As soon as my men and I had joined the crew, we planned on taking out the Straw Hats, each and every one of them." He drawled, as he walked towards the panicking and kneeling fake Sanji and grabbed his face with his big hand and pulled the head of the faker towards his while his hand slowly changed into a mud-like substance that extended around his captives face.

"Can you believe it? As I arrived the meeting, I had originally thought that all your faces and physiques had changed; that's quite understandable, since it has been four long years after all… _but_ -" He paused in his rant as a sneer formed on his face. "-the pirate whom I thought was Straw Hat was just nobody, an _impostor._ " He snarled, turning to his right to look at his brother, as the still struggling fake Sanji caught within his grip was slowly losing his energy. "Do you think God will forgive this transgression Caribou?" He asked, ignoring as fake Sanji's body slumped in his hand.

"Dig! Dig!"

"Stop this!" fake Usopp snarled, reaching behind his cloak, as he stood up from his kneeling position, to grab his mini cannon launcher he had tucked away, before he then fired.

 _BOOM_

Caribou didn't even flinch as the cannon ball hit him and was lodged into his gut. This made fake Usopp pause in his victory cheer as he realised something horrible.

"Shit! Don't tell me he's a – GAHH!" fake Usopp was swiftly cut down before he could even finish his sentence, and the fake Straw Hat Pirates crew's sobs increased even more at seeing this mere fact.

Caribou's smirk increased. He tossed the body of fake Sanji in front of his fellow pirates. "Indeed my friends, let's bury them all!" He cackled madly, before clasping his hands in prayer. "Oh God, I will bury this imbeciles in your glorious name..."

"Stop! I'm begging you, don't kill me!" fake Nami plead as she sobbed.

Caribou ignored her plea, as he was turning his head and looking up at the blue skies above in thought. _'…However, I've seen the real Straw Hat Luffy with my own two eyes, and despite my original plan failing, there are other ways to get what I want. Hehahaha!'_

He didn't care that Whiskered Demon Naruto had joined Straw Hat, all that mattered was that each of them were going to fall by his own two hands one way or another. He had the power, he had the equipment, and he had the mind and the help necessary to accomplish this and not a thing in this world will stop him from achieving his goals!

[' _Okay, maybe this one might_ actually _be a problem if he decides to bombard us with his cannons.'_ Naruto thought. _'The ship won't be able to take it, and most of the crew would drown under water. Should I stop him now rather than later? Nah, Luffy, Robin and the others can take care of themselves, though I better keep my eye on him just in case.']_

 _(Caribou's ship – Present)_

With his ship already coated and prepared, and his task of dealing with the blasphemers finally done, Caribou, his brother, and his crew had boarded their ship and dove right after the Straw Hat Pirates – despite them already having a head start – and thanks to the extra _help_ they received, the Caribou Pirate Crew managed to catch up with Sunny in no time.

They were unaware that they were being watched.

"Ahead! The Straw Hats."

"I can see that, you fool." Caribou responded with a smirk, after he heard his brother report. "This time I'll get aboard the ship, won't I?" he drawled, shivering in pure anticipation as his ship inched closer and closer to his unsuspecting targets. His eyes gained a greedy glint. _'Soon Straw Hat, Whiskered Demon, both your heads will be mine!'_ He looked at his crew after that and cleared his throat. "Are you ready you guys?!"

"Aye, aye!"

"Our goal is right before our eyes! We could destroy their ship, and send the wreckage straight to the ocean floor." Caribou cackled. "But, that's no good; if we did that, no one would know who did it!" He loudly mused, before snapping his finger as a solution came to him. "We'll take their heads and bring them back to the surface, that's how we'll sing out to the world, "Caribou is here!""

"Aye, aye!"

 _Naruto's View End._

 _(Moments Later)_

"…"

"…"

Caribou's skin slowly paled as the realisation of what just happened had finally settled in, while on the opposite side of him from their positions, wherever they may be, each Straw Hat Pirates eyed him with an identical deadpanned stare. He was unaware that his energy was slowly being sapped away by an unknown source. His mind was still reeling from the shock and fact that his brother and his crew had abandoned him on the Thousand Sunny.

Each of the crew watched as Franky walked up and captured the still frozen Caribou, (who later had recovered from his shock once he had realised that he was captured and was on the process of thrown off board) – cue pathetic strings of protests – held the struggling body over his head and walked towards the sea, trying as much as possible to ignore Cariboru's apologies and pleas with the key word being _trying_ …

 _SLAM_

"SHUT UP ALREADY!" Franky snapped at the whimpering invader, looking at the body he just slammed on the ground. "Who was the one that was just talking about slaughtering and Gatling guns, huh?!" He certainly remembered clearly just what it was this idiot was saying minutes ago.

"Um… that, that was just a figure of speech!" Caribou stuttered with a nervous laugh. "I didn't actually mean it, see!?"

"Figure of speech? Yeah right." Sanji said with a scoff, walking up to Franky and Caribou with Zoro and Naruto beside him.

"Just who's this idiot?" Zoro asked, eyeing the man on the ground. "Isn't he the captain of that ship?" His second question was followed by a disdainful snort, as he, Zoro, saw and concluded that this whimpering fool looked weak to be captain; he was somewhat surprised that this fool had managed to make it this far.

"He goes by 'Wet Haired Caribou'." Naruto replied, glancing at Zoro. "He ate the Swamp-Swamp Fruit; he's a Logia Type Devil Fruit user." He recited, remembering this particular info as one of those he'd picked up from, when he was working on expanding the range of his scoping/spying ability. _'Well, technically, it's more spying than scoping… but I'm never going to admit it out loud.'_ He thought.

 _'Shit, this is bad!'_ Caribou thought in panic. _'How did Whiskered Demon know what fruit I ate?'_ He wondered, as didn't count on any one of them knowing about his abilities, something he was planning to use as a his trump card, as they'd be lost on how to defend from it by the time they realised he was already attacking; this only made matters worse for him in this particular situation and for some reason he didn't know, he was starting to feel his strength creeping away from him. He realised now that fighting wasn't much of an option at this point. "Well you see, I'm not that much of a fighter, in fact I'm not actually the captain of that ship…" He stuttered, lying to buy some time for his brother and his crew to come back for him.

"…I was a slave captured by those evil pirates and forced to do all of their dirty work; thank you! Thank you for saving me!" Caribou silently hoped – neigh, prayed – that they bought his false story, it was what he could think up at the moment.

Naruto stared at the whimpering Caribou with a deadpanned expression on his face. "Any person with a brain can tell that the idiot's lying." He blanched.

"No one asked you idiot!" Sanji yelled at Naruto, spinning once before smacking the front side of his lower leg to the back of the other blonde's head, or at least he tried to do so, as Naruto bent down, letting the leg slide over him. It was what Sanji remembered seeing last, before all he felt was pain as his body shot across the Sunny's grassy deck...

 _CRASH!_

…and crashed into a wall.

"Sanji!" Chopper cried in panic, seeing his friend hurt.

Naruto withdrew his stretched right hand and placed both his hands to his sides with a huff, before he crossed both of them over his chest.

"So, what are we going to do with him?" Zoro questioned, ignoring the twitching body of Sanji, while he turned to look at Naruto standing beside him. "If what you said about him is true, then I'd rather avoid fighting. I don't want to dirty my swords with his filth."

Naruto thought about Zoro's question for a few seconds, before he snapped his fingers as an answer came to him, and then, *poof*, two items instantly formed out of nothing: a chain and a lock, both items levitated towards Franky and hovered in front of the Cyborgs face, startling him a bit, and shocking Zoro. "Here, use these chains to tie up that idiot." Naruto told the _Super_ Cyborg, as each of the two items – chain and lock – landed on Franky's palms. "I can't exactly touch them because the two are made from Sea Stone."

"Amazing, they're completely real!" Franky said in wonder, inspecting the chain with a look of etched equal wonder and curiosity on his face.

"Sugoi!" Luffy breathed out. "Oi, oi, Naruto, can you make tons of meat appear like that?!" He rushed up to Naruto after he asked that question. "Huh? Huh?"

"No you idiot! Why would he do that? It'd be a complete waste of his ability!" Nami scolded Luffy, after she appeared out of nowhere and pulled Naruto away from her captain.

Luffy pouted in disappointment.

"Thank you, Nami-san." Naruto sighed, relieved that she had hopped in like that, saving him from a life-time of servitude under Luffy's order (serving the captain dictator nothing but meat while he was in chains and shackles) he shuddered at that image. _'I know he's not that bad, but come on, it's_ Luffy _we're talking about here.'_ He shuddered once more, before he shook his head and moved towards Robin, only to stop as the grip on his hand increased, rather than decreased.

He blinked, _'Huh?'_

"Ne, ne… Naruto- _kun~_ " A voice purred seductively, as a pair of lips were close to his ears, while his hand was smothered in a large pair of firm yet soft breasts. "Forget all about that idiot captain, let's go have a private... _chat_ ~" Nami trailed her lounge on his right cheek after she said the chat with a slight "pop" while resting the palm of her hand on his left.

Had Naruto not had the experience he had with the fairer sex, he would have been putty in her hands.

Nami, meanwhile, smiled coquettishly as she ran a single manicured finger over his chest in small sensual circles. "Ne~" she whispered, "It would be rather enjoyable for you..." She purred as, her finger made its way to his waist and began tugging at his belt.

Naruto tried to swallow the lump building up in his throat.

On one hand, he had he literally had one of the biggest pair of breast he had ever felt on him, accompanied with one of the sexiest women he'd ever seen, but on the other hand, there was his girlfriend, Robin; while the two agreed that their relationship was open on both ends, they had to get permission from each other first - even though she wasn't too willing to go out with other men - but, there was the problem which was starting to take place in his pants... he didn't know if he could last if Nami continued.

"Come on... _Na-ru-to-kun_ ~" Nami insisted, pressing her breasts onto him, while her hand began to move south. Naruto shivered at the contact; as a straight hot blooded male who's well past puberty, he was greatly turned on by this, but he sure as hell didn't want to piss of Robin if he made a move on Nami in front of her...

"Navigator-san, I'd appreciate it if you stop harassing Naruto-kun. He's already spoken for…"

Speak of the devil, or in this case, angel... though in Robin's case technicality, it was pretty much the opposite… it didn't matter though. _'At least I'm saved.'_ He thought, as he let out a sigh filled with nothing but relief. _'Alright Robin! Now help me get out of this-'_

"…but I wouldn't mind exchanging the terms and conditions for sharing him."

Naruto's world suddenly came to a crashing halt.

His eye snapped to Robin in shock, his face had a look that asked her "why?", Robin's answer was a chilling smile shot at his direction as she left with an equally smiling Nami; Naruto found himself with a smug Nami's arm tightly looped around his a few moments later. He wanted to cry. He could already see himself being a slave with a greedy Nami as master.

 _Naruto's Imagination._

 _Nami ordered, "Work slave! Make me more money!"_

 _She was the epitome of greed, wearing an expensive golden dress which enhanced her voluptuous figure, with a crown on her head, a royal cape on her back, a royal staff on her left hand, a pair of expensive diamond bracelets and necklaces, and high heels; on her right hand was a sea-laced whip, which she waved around with a look equal to the sin she drowned on._

 _"Yes mistress…"_

 _Creature squatted in front of his mistress with his weak elfish like figure with grey skin, a severely malnourished form, a loin cloth, and very few strands of what looked like white hair. He had a collar around his neck, which was chained to an unbreakable pole. Creature looked to at its mistress as a pile of berry bills and coins appeared in front of it and plopped to the ground; this was just a small pile in the mountains of piles behind Nami._

 _"…Mistress, Naruto is hungry." Creature wheezes out._

 _"Filling up my wallet is enough food for you slave!" Nami snapped, whipping the creature with her whip._

 _SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!_

 _"Now eat!"_

 _Creature sobbed._

 _Naruto's Imagination End._

Naruto had tears welling up in his eyes. It was _that_ bad, at least with Luffy, it could have been bearable.

Nami never noticed Naruto's suffering, instead, she was swimming in a sea of nothing but money and coins, enjoying herself immensely a happy smile on her face and a Berri sign on her two eyes. She didn't even realise that her grip on Naruto was getting tighter as her mind wandered off. It was only thanks to the appearance of a certain Sea Cow in her coin based sea that Nami was brought back to reality.

She looked at the pale and groaning Caribou and walked up to him after she got up from her seat and left Naruto's arm alone. "Hey, I was wondering, where did you find that big Sea Cow we saw before?" She asked.

"It's just a sea monster we caught in these waters." Caribou tiredly replied. He was too weak to even leer at the person asking him this question thanks to whatever it was that sapped his energy and the chains wrapped around him. "Using sea creatures like that to pull your ship is how professionals travel under water."

"Huh?" Luffy instantly appeared next to Caribou's form on the ground. "So that's how it is!" He grinned. "Alright then! We're getting one of those creatures to pull our ship!" He said, before he rushed over to the bubble to look for the right animal to pick. He wanted it to be very big and strong, as the future Pirate King, he wasn't going to settle for anything else after all.

Nami shook her head as she observed Luffy's actions. She knew she couldn't convince him to do otherwise if she tried. Hearing a set of footsteps walking towards her, she turned and saw that it was Usopp who approached.

"Hey Nami, are we going in a different direction from the one the Log Pose is pointing in?" Usopp asked.

"Yes, but don't worry, we should move southwest of the compass needle." She answered, looking at said device on her wrist.

"But going directly towards the island would be faster!" Luffy pipped up. "Why are we going in a different direction?" He was confused. He didn't understand this whole navigating thing, but he thought when using a compass, you should always head towards the direction it's pointing to. Log Poses shouldn't be that different.

"Apparently, if you follow the needle directly, you'll get caught up in the ocean currents," Nami replied. "And you might crash into an underwater volcano before reaching your destination."

Usopp frowned. "But I thought the oceans of the Grand Line are completely whack." He said, recalling the few times he'd experienced crossing said oceans. "Is there really a current that's not going to cause us any problems?"

Nami answered, "Yeah, just one." She suddenly felt a chill run up her spine and rubbed her arms up and down. "We better get our coats, it's going to get cold soon."

It indeed was, as people were already starting to feel the effects as it creeped up on their skin – despite some of them not having any skin, Yohohohohoho – so they did as Nami asked, some though were already comfy in what they wore and didn't need to move from their position. There were a few conceptions about the Hot-Cold thing, which then brought up a different topic all together, this issue was later settled when it was agreed that the currents leading to the Fishman Island was a mystery sea current; Nami was upset that Zoro, Chopper, Usopp and Brook did not understand her explanation, additionally however, she was glad that at least _some_ had brains on this ship ship.

But then they heard it...

"What's that sound?"

It was the sound of water boiling and bubbles popping.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Franky worded with an impressed look on his face, while he stood behind the steering wheel as he gazed at the sight ahead. He was amazed at the sight set in front of him, and from the different feet shuffling on the deck, he knew that the rest of the crew were moving around to see just what it was he was talking about, and as they spotted said sight, they all were just as amazed as he was. Why wouldn't they be? It looked just like an enormous underwater waterfall, whose bottom was 'pitch black' according to the resident Usopp. "What a very impressive, Nature!" He mused.

"What a massive current." Robin commented, smiling. She was equally as amazed as the others were. "I wonder: just how many hundred meters is it?" She silently mulled. She felt like this current could go into a few hundred meters give or take, at the very most, it may as well reach the thousands. ' _It's truly an impressive sight.'_ She thought, it was one worthy of a journal entry.

Behind her, Naruto was just as impressed with the sight, and he was glad to share it with his friends, however, his body froze as his senses picked up a malevolent force which seemed to run purely on instinct, and from the size of the aura, it was _big_.

"Guys, we might have a problem." Naruto stated, causing the attention to be drawn towards him. "There's something big down there, and I mean _really_ big, and if we run into it, we might not be able to make it out without a scratch." He said, pointing down to the pitch black bottom.

"He's right Straw Hat crew, turn around immediately!" The crew turned to see the strained form of Caribou struggling to stand, let alone speak, as he made his way towards them. "There's a monster down there, a monster that was only thought to be a legend and myth!"

"What are you guys talking about?" Usopp asked, with a look of confusion on his face, as he turned to Naruto then Caribou. "Why would there be a monster down there?" He never seemed to notice a large octopus-like tentacle, easily twice the size of Sunny, creep up behind the ship. His crew mates – except for Luffy (who was sitting beside him and had his back turned) – did notice however, and they all froze from either shock, or fear.

Usopp frowned as he noticed this.

"All of those legends aren't real, you know." He said. "You all shouldn't really believe those tales."

He failed to realise sooner, that he lived in a world where Mythical Creatures such as Giants and Phoenix's existed; if he had noted all of this down, then something such as the Kraken existing shouldn't be so farfetched. He was still in his fantasy land, and when Chopper brought him out of it by fearfully stating that the Kraken is real, he couldn't help but sigh. "You too Chopper? Cut it out, it's getting really annoying." He said.

"Behind you…"

Usopp looked at Nami with a confused look on his face. "What are you talking…" He paused. He heard a growl. He swallowed thickly and stuttered, "…B-Behind me?"

Chopper tearfully sniffs. "Yeah."

Usopp turned his head fearfully. "Behind me…" He froze, an unadulterated scream of terror was heard from the sniper. "It's the Kraken!"

Indeed it was, for swimming on the bottom of the chasm in its pure magnificent tentacle glory, in a size and mas more than 20 times the Thousand Sunny, was none other than the so-called 'Mythical Creature', the enemy of mankind, one of the most powerful forces to roam the undersea levels, the Kraken; and it. looked. _pissed_.

 _"ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!"_

Naturally, for some members of the crew – as they laid their sights on the beast that easily preys on ships twice the size of theirs – this brought the expressions of fear and awe, it was the normal reaction for a normal human to have, let it be known however, that one Monkey D. Luffy was _far_ from normal, it was why his expression was one of excitement as an opportunity arose... an opportunity he's going to take full advantage on.

Luffy grinned. "Hey guys, I just had an awesome idea!" He said, and he was met with varying stares from all around, as his crew knew that whatever idea that came out of Luffy's mouth wasn't a good one. "Let's tame it…"

It was times like this that made some people wonder why they chose to follow Luffy in the first place; they sure as hell didn't sign up for their lives to be in this much danger.

* * *

To Be Continued.

* * *

 **Villains:** Like I said, I'm going to add some Naruto Villains in the story, and the order in which they appear is canonical chronological order (it's a word, it should be obvious what I mean) and I'm going to start with Zabuza – despite Mizuki being Naruto's first official villain – because that fits with the Fishman Island arc, which means that Zabuza is going to be a Fishman; do not fret guys, I've already gotten an idea of what powers I'm going to give him.

 **Kurama:** Will the fox and his siblings make an appearance? That's for me to know and you to find out. I have later chapters planned for this story as I plan on taking it to the Dressrosa arc. I also plan on doing some things differently as well, maybe I might even give Naruto a constant enemy who want's revenge or something like that… who knows?

 **Kenbunshoku: Omoi-Joukei Kaikou (Observation: Mental Sight Navigation):** It's a long range Telekinetic Based Scanning Technique whose broadcasting limit could cover an entire Island if he so wishes, or the entire Grand Line; coupled with his Enhanced Hearing, this scanning technique is Naruto's chosen for any form of activity which requires spying and observing. It's how he's able to view the adventures of any one he wishes (More on this later).

 **Unnamed Finger Beam:** Naruto charges up an ample amount of energy in his finger and releases it in the form of a finger beam at anyone he wishes.

 **Strength Levels (Naruto):** It is unknown to how much Naruto can lift and what his strength limit is, but he's shown to have an above average level of human strength as he's able to send Sanji's body flying by a simple finger flick.

 **Naruto's Fruit (?):** Jinchiruki no Mi: Kyubi no Yoko, (?).

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or One Piece.

 **PS:** The title for this story is called: **A Slight Deviation** meaning a slight change from the original plan, meaning a few things would change, and some of those things would include plots, main characters, character strengths and weaknesses, etc. I decided to do this heads up because I am planning on boosting some of the main villain's strength. The story wouldn't be living up to it's title if I didn't make some notable changes like that.

Hope you understand, and sorry for the inconvenience to you all, also, Kabuto's fruit has been decided. Thanks to all of you that contributed for the idea!


	4. Chapter 4

For those who are unaware, please do check out my new Naruto/Spider-Man/Marvel crossover titled **All New All Different Spiderman.** It features plot lines from different universes, however where I'm going to be pulling out my facts from are the MCU, 1610 and Spectacular Spiderman Animated series. The pairing is stated to be a harem with all girls now confirmed.

For the news on this story, I'm going to need help in proceeding with the latest chapter as I find myself in a standstill but don't worry, I'm not abandoning this story; I just need to get my creative jucies flowing again but I'll need some help to jumpstart it.

Also, please don't forget to check up my other story, **A Tail of Gods and Monsters**. If I reach 1000 likes on either fav or follows, the spark to continue the story might return.

Sorry if this authors note annoys you all.

I'll be sure to delete it when I post the chapter meant to take up this space.


	5. Chapter 5

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you unfortunate news. This account has been **Discontinued** which means any story that's been written on this account is now up for grabs for anyone interested, and discontinued as well. But that does not mean that it's the end for me. I have decided to move on to a new account where I'll continue work except I'm not the only one using said account in question so it's not just my stories there. My brother will be using that account from time to time as it's his originally but that doesn't mean that I'm discontinued from using it; and already, I have two new stories out posted in the account: **Beach City Sage** and **Guardian Partners**. If you're a fan of my work, then please move on to said account because that's where I'll be doing things from now on. And as for how to get there, well access to the new account is on **my profile page**.

Again, this account is **Discontinued** and for that, I am sorry, but I've not quit from fanfiction, just moved onto a new account that i'll be sharing with my brother from now on.

Peace.


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